Highly-refractory article



STATES PATENT A OFFICE.

Emma E. at

N, 018 JACKSONVILLE, FLQRIDA, AND N. Y'., ASSIGNORS T0 BUCKMAN &PRITCHARD, INC.,-, OF JACKSON} GEORGE A. PRITCE, or

KILLE, FJLORIDA, A CORPORATION OF FLORIDA.

HIlTG-HLY-QBEFRACTORY ARTICLE.

Lil-12,91 e.

1N0 Drawing. Original application Specification of Letters Patent.

filed-September 28, 1920, Serial No. 413,368. Renewed September 7, 1921.Serial No. 499,078.

To all'whom it may concern I Be it known that we,HENRY H. BUCK- MAN, aresident of Jacksonville, Florida, and GEORGE A. PRITCHARD, a residentof New York, N. Y., and being both citizens of the UnitedfStates, havejointly invented certain new and useful Improvements inHighly-Refractory Articles, of which the following is aspecification,this being a division of my pending application for patent, Serial No.329,610, filed October 9', 1919.-

Our resent invention relates to such highly refractory, usuallyheat-compacted, materials, or compositions of. materials, as are byreason of their refractory properties, on otherwise, useful for manypurposes an especially. in arts involving application of very hightemperatures to elements, compounds 'or other substances in order toconvert them into various desired products,

among the principal uses of the said highly refractory materials beingconstruction, or

preparation, therefromof furnaces, retorts,

muflies, crucibles and the like, or the walls, or other parts, thereof,or their application as cementing agents to the repair of such vessels;and-v the objects of our invention com-' prise the" provision of amaterial, or materials, or composition of materials, and a method ofutilizing the same, whereby, with greater economy and certainty. thanheretomannerfrom said oxide,

fore, there is, among other desiderata, impartableto such appliancesincreased resistance, to high temperatures, and to the passagetherethrough, or thereover, of the elec-' tric current; correspondingdurability; exceptional stability; and'capacity for being; effectvelyand readily repaired and maintaine I We are aware that the use ofzirc'onium' oxide (ZrO has been heretofore suggested as desirable forsomewhat similar, or analogous, purposes, but we believe that we are thefirst to have conceived, andf'by our researches and tests to havedemonstrated, that zirconium silicate ,7 (ZrSiQQ, commonly known aszircon, or 'sometimes as hyacinth, jargon, etc., and preferably asproduced by nature, or even also as synthetically produced, behaves, inseveral important respects, in amarkedly and usefully different whensubjected to the action of carbon, or other reagents, at

the high temperatures referred to. For whereas under such conditions theoxide appears to be too readily, or prohibitively, at-- Patented; Apr.18, 1922.

filed October 9, 1919, Serial No. 329,610. Divided and this applicationtacked and its identity destroyed by the carbon, or other reagents, thesilicate is comparatively only moderately, usually only negligibly, soattacked at even extremely high, or comparatively much higher, tem-'useful -qualities,'or properties, chief of which aref (1);exceptionalchemical inertness even I at very high temperatures; (2) a very highmelting'pointso high, indeed, as to have by us; (3) an extremely lowloo-efficient of expansion; (4:) a great fine ,comminution. I

' Our researches and tests havejalso demonstrated that when thusfinely'comminuted zircon, or zirconium silicate, is, as preferable,mixed with water, or other suitable liquid, or moisture-impartive,vehicle, and made, asv

er well-knowm procedures, into a batch 7 0 proved hithertoundeterminable accurately resistance to the passage of the electriccurrent, therethrough,

mm which, owing, in part, to its above reor the melting point of theinaterial is much ,95

higher. IIt'is' not necessary that the entire mass of zircon, orzirconium silicate, used be very finely comminuted,so 1011" as asubstantial portion is in this con ttion. But when zircon, or zirconiumsilicate, used by itself alone in production of our ferred toautocementative or agglomerative (1., will novel highly refractoryroducts, it is highly preferable, if not essential, that at least partofit be finely comminuted. If1t is to be used in association with otherconstituents 105 of our highly refractory m terial, or final is to be.eration of constituent material.

product, as hereafter referred to, this function of a binding agent maybe performed either by a certain amount of finely comminuted zircon, orby one of the other ma-- terials.

In order to describe more fully our invention and to enable othersskilled in the art to practice it, we here give the following severalexample of our procedure.

When we desire our highly refractory articles, or final products, to becomposed, or to consist, of zircon, or zirconium silicate, by itself, oressentially by itself, unassociated with other thereto designedly addedmaterial, we take twenty-five per cent of zircon which is in the form ofparticles, i. e. which is naturally, or has been, finely comminuted (sayfor example to 200inesh, or smaller), and mix it thoroughly with coarserzircon (say 90 mesh or larger). If a-pressure mold is tobe employed, weprefer, though not absolutely necessary, to use a very little water, orother moisture-impartive medium, with the mix, or batch, i. e. justabout sufficient to insure a thorough distribution of the more finelycomminuted zircon,

or zirconium silicate, over the surface of, and interstitially between,the larger particles. The shapes produced by usual procedures, as, forexample, in pressure molds, from this novel batch we dry, and usuallyfire so as to heat-compact the components thereof, as per any one of theseveral usual and wellknown procedures of the art thus imparting greatershape-retentiveness to the conglom- If a pressure mold is not to beemployed, we prefer to use sufficient water, or other suitable liquid,or moisture-impartive, vehicle in the mix to so moisten the batch as toinsure not only a proper distribution of the finely divided zirconthroughout the mass, but also a proper working consistency. This is alsothe case when we desire to use our highly refractory material as arefractory cement, applied to where indicated while plastic as bytrowelling, etc. and thereafter dried in place.

We have found that, depending upon the particular'a'rt in which it isused, our novel highly refractory material, or products, may best becomposed either wholly of zircon, or zirconium silicate, as abovedescribed, or also, in many other cases, or for special uses, as, forexample, in the manufacture of those well known products known asceramic wares, or ceramics, it may advantageously be mixed, orassociated with, or, to an extent, substituted for other materials,including several of those already employed in the art for analogouspurposes, as, or example, for the china clay, or kaolin, or flint, orother usual constituents of said ceramics. But in all cases we have,thus far, found it preferable, if not essential, to have at least fiveper cent by weight of zircon, or zirconium silicate, present in thefinal product.

Examples of our above referred to employment of zircon, or zirconiumsilicate, with associated materials are, among others, as follows: wesometimes compose our highly refractory articles, or ceramic products,of zircon, or zirconium silicate, associated with a compound ofaluminium, to wit, a solid inorganic compound of that metal, such as anoxygen, or a silicon compound thereof. To this end, in the latterinstance, we select, for example, a suitable clay say one composedimportantly of an aluminum silicate and intimately mix it with, as abovedescribed, finely comminuted and coarser zircon in such proportions thatthe finely comminuted zircon will be to the coarser zircon as about oneto three, and the total zircon to the aluminium compound will be aboutas one to one. Other proportions, including those relative to otherconstituents of the final product, may, as indicated by theparticularuse designed, be also used as will readil. be apparent tothose skilled in the art. ur procedure from this point to themanufacture of shapes, or of cements, follows that above described.

In other cases, or for special purposes, We similarly and by the sameprocedures, associate the zircon, or zirconium silicate, in our highlyrefractory material, or products, with alundum.

The term zircon employed in ourhereinafter made claims is to beunderstood in each instance as referring to, a chemical combination ofzirconium, silicon and oxygen designatable by the formula ZrSiO andirrespective of its origin being synthetic or natural. w

Having now described our invention, what we claim as new and desire tosecure byvLetters Patent is the following, viz:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a highly refractory materialcontaining zircon and also alundum. I

' 2. As a newarticle of manufacture, a refractory composition of mattercomprising fzircon and an oxygen compound of aluminum.

HENRY H. BUCKMAN. GEORGE A. PRITCHARD.

